Horsing around with pony tails

February 16, 2009|By Tribune Newspapers

The horses at Tom Johnson and Jim Hoff's place in Elbert County, Colo., once had tails that hung down to their hooves. Shampooed and combed, the tails' flaxen color gleamed when the Belgian draft horses drew wagons for children and pranced in parades. But a significant portion of their tails disappeared one recent night when an intruder hopped the fence into their pasture and left a half-dozen horses and ponies with shredded stubs. Though rare, tales of such thievery are not unheard of -- similar cases have occurred in recent years in Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin, as well as Canada. Last month, a blue roan in Allentown, Pa., also lost its tail to an illicit barber. Mark Gittes of Colorado Horsehair, a Boulder-based company, said it doesn't make sense to risk arrest to steal for personal use -- horsehair is widely available for purchase. "It's equivalent to going and shearing someone's sheep when you can buy a bag of wool," he said.